All the CEO's Men

Back DESPITE popular demand. I felt like writing again because gaming finally FINALLY has found its Watergate. I speak of course of the recent happenings over at Infinity Ward, the subsequent firings, and the future of both Activision and the Call of Duty masterminds.
Oh Bobby Kotick. Why didn't you burn the tapes? Where did the 18 minutes of recording go of you explaining to Jason West why Modern Warfare 2 should be played with Akimbo peripherals? When will Vice President Ford take over for you when you take off in your golden helicopter? Should this blog have been renamed "Frost/Kotick"? When will Adam stop making Nixon references? The answer to these questions are unclear, but here are things we do know:
Security stormed the Infinity Ward office buildings in Los Angeles. The thing I think is funny is the way they phrased this. "Stormed." In other words, the security Activision hired to oust the studio heads are comparable to the NS-5s storming the police station in "I, Robot".
President Jason West and Studio Head/COO Vince Zampella are "let go". In America, this is better known as "fired". Let's get something straight here: this isn't about Modern Warfare 2 in terms of a game. Just cause Mommy and Daddy are fighting doesn't mean they don't love their $1 Billion child. Rather, it's about the compensation and control for it. According to a massive 16-page lawsuit currently viewable on IGN, both West and Zampella were supposed to be compensated for Modern Warfare 2. Activision, in hopes of avoiding payment, hired lawyers to conduct an investigation to bring charges of insubordination and breaches of fiduciary duty against the two, breaching their contracts and resulting in their termination. This type of stuff comes from a publisher like Activision overstepping its grounds, eliminating its promise of complete creative control to IW, and then trying to sneak out the back door.
Activision taps newly-formed studio Sledgehammer Games to make a new Call of Duty. So basically this means that corporate greed wants an even bigger slice of the pie. Activision has expressed interest in taking the Call of Duty franchise into an action/adventure direction. In other words, Bobby Kotick wants Captain Price to star in Uncharted 3. Activision has already stepped on IW's toes by allowing Treyarch to create at least some of the COD games, and now is threatening to take the Modern Warfare franchise away as well. A new Treyarch COD was announced for this year, most likely taking place in a Vietnam setting. A new COD was also announced for 2011, and seeing as how the time gap between Modern Warfare is two years (2007, 2009) this could be the third. The lawsuit West and Zampella filed not only demanded compensation for Modern Warfare 2, but also "the contractual rights Activision granted to Messrs. West and Zampella to control Modern Warfare games." In other words, Sledgehammer could be the next developer of Modern Warfare 3.
So what does this mean for each party involved? Here are some rumors I'm debunking right now:
Infinity Ward will close. Rubbish. Not gonna happen. The developer responsible for the biggest piece of entertainment since Avatar will not just be left out to dry. Though Activision currently owns IW, there exists a Memorandum of Understanding, which keeps Activision's ownership on certain conditions. This memorandum is set to expire in October of 2011 (or if the conditions of contract are breach, which they have been), meaning if another publisher makes a tender offer, Activision could sell the company. Any publisher (the biggest being EA Partners) would snap IW in a heartbeat.
Activsion is fucked. Yes. No matter what they do, they cannot come out of this scandal unphased. Their commitment to greed above quality is sinking them as a publisher, especially in a time when games must maintain a certain level of integrity to acheive success in the market. Other developers, such as Blizzard and Neversoft, will now be wary of a long term commitment with the company. Activision won't close, but it won't ever be the same.
Call of Duty and Modern Warfare are safe. I. DON'T. KNOW. This scares me most of all. They will remain, but they may not be the same games we've come to love (or love to hate). The new action/adventure direction, the new studio, the drama of Infinity Ward all seem to point to one logical conclusion: That the Call of Duty we knew is gone, and is never coming back.
Please let me know what you think. I treasure your feedback, especially with something as madenning as this. Also vote in the poll. Thank you. Glad to be back.